Porto to London

Up Saturday saw Dave and I separate from the girls who had decided that retail therapy was in order. So off we wandered around Porto enjoying a random explore. As you can imagine in a nation that is over 85% catholic there were plenty of churches.

We looked in a couple and found this one St Benedict Victory.

St Benedict Victory

From there we meandered around and saw huge lines outside the bookshop which was some inspiration for JK Rowling for Harry Potter. Not sure the owner has sold a book in years but coining it charging the queues of people 4 Euro to enter! He/She should thank her everyday.

The other inspiration we saw was groups of students wanderin around in diffeent colours being chaperoned by older students with the capes on. Can see how she got the idea for Hogwarts.

Besides that, Porto architecture is amazing with rows of tiled houses, some in absolute mint condition.

Tiled buildings

So after our meander we met the girls at a small restaurant for a latish lunch and from there they went on to more retail therapy, whilst Dave and I had a beer then made our way back down exploring nooks and crannys.

A refreshment stop for a wine brought us home where we met up. Our last night was spent overlooking the river for dinner, and the company was fantastic.

Bern and Sangria

Back to the fantastic apartment for some late night chats saw us up on Sunday to come home. Sadly we left Dave and Bern, and made our way to airport for 2 hour flight back to London.

Arrived to cold London day after a week in sun, so had to stop at Davys before arriving home. Leann had her mother and niece come in the morning from South Africa and they were out. They arrived back late and after a quick catch up it was off to a welcome bed.

Fi has gone off to work, the South Africans have gone for a walk, and I am revelling in peace. Guess it will ramp up a bit later and looking foward to a home cooked meal tonight.